Watchcase-type counter



Filed March 23, 1959 CHARLES 500M United States Patent 3,054,559WATCHCASE-TYPE COUNTER Charles Dom, 10 Rue de la Muse, Geneva,Switzerland Filed Mar. 23, 1959, Ser. No. 801,058 Claims priority,application Switzerland May 29, 1958 3 Claims. (Cl. 235-121) The presentinvention has for its object a case of the Watch-case type, comprising aglass-rim and which is characterized by the fact that it is providedwith a ring angularly movable with respect to said glass-rim and whichis held axially with respect to said glass-rim by a coupling device.

The accompanying drawing illustrates, schematically and by way ofexample, a case of the wrist-watch case type containing a counter likethe one described in the U8. patent application Serial No. 739,873 filedJune 4, 1958, now Patent No. 3,000,559.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the counter.

FIG. 2 is a plan view with broken away portions of the case.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the glass-rim.

FIG. 4 is a partial cross-section and at a greater scale along the lineIVIV of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a partial cross-section along the line V-V of FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is a partial cross-section along the line VI-VIL of FIG. 2.

According to the accompanying drawing, the case shown is a case of thewrist-watch case type containing a golf counter like the one describedin the above-mentioned US. patent application. Said case 1 is providedwith a glass-rim 2 machined in a single piece with a bottom 3 providedwith two apertures 4 and 5 allowing to appear in each a figure carriedby a counting member. The units counting member containing the figureswhich appear successively in the aperture 4 is actuated step by step bya push-button 6 while a tens transferring device actuates step by stepthe counting member of which the figures appear in the aperture 5. Saidcounter allows one to count up to 99. The object of the invention is topermit one either to count up to 1999, or for a golf player, forexample, to mark the order number of a hole of the game.

To this efiect, the glass-rim 2 is provided with a circular externalrecess 7, into which is engaged a circular foot 8 of a ring 9, which isangularly movable with respect to the glass-rim, but axially held inposition with respect to said glass-rim, by a coupling device. Saidcoupling device is constituted by an elastic ring 10 disposed within arecess formed by two corresponding circular grooves 11 and 12 cut in theglass-rim 2 and in the foot 8 of the ring 9. Said elastic ring is splitand both its extremities are bent at right angles, so as to formactuating fingers 13 and 14 which traverse an aperture 15 made in theglass-rim.

A bolt 16 disposed on the internal face 17 of the glassrim andconstituted by a lever provided with two notches 19 is articulated byone of its extremities by means of a shouldered screw 18. Said twonotches are intended for engagement on the actuating fingers 13 and 14,in order to keep them apart one from another and then to secure for theelastic ring 10 such a diameter as to be always located partially in thegroove 11 and partially in the groove 12. Said elastic ring constitutesthen with the grooves '11 and 12 a coupling device holding the circularring 9 in axial position on the glass-rim, but permitting the angulardisplacements of said ring with respect to the glass-rim. The circularring 9 carries a mark 20 adapted to travel opposite a scale 21 carriedby the bottom 3 of the glass-rim. In the illustrated exam- "ice ple,said scale carries, regularly spaced along a circle, the numbers from 0to 19 enabling the golf player to mark the order number of the holewhich he is trying to reach, by a simple angular displacement of thecircular ring.

The case is further provided with a locking device defining each of theangular positions of the circular ring 9 for which its mark 20 is placedopposite a figure of the scale 21 carried by the bottom 3. Said lockingdevice is constituted, on the one hand, by a finger 22 carried by anelastic support 23 secured on the bottom 24 of the case, and, on theother hand, by notches 25 impressed in the front face 26 of the foot 8of the circular ring 9. The finger 22 passes through an aperture 27provided in said glass-rim.

In order to set in place the circular ring 9 onto the glass-rim 2, thecircular groove 11 provided in the said glass-rim presents a depth alarger than the width b of the elastic ring 10. Furthermore, thedistance between the actuating fingers 13 and 14 is such that when thebolt 16 is in disengaged position (FIG. 3) and the operator actuatessaid fingers, by menas of tongs, till they come into contact one withanother, the elastic ring 9 is entirely engaged in the groove 11, sothat the circular ring may then be set in place or taken away at will.

A knurling 28, provided on the circular ring 9, assures a good grasp andallows easy actuation thereof. It is clear that, as shown in thedrawing, the end of the finger 22 is rounded, as well as the edges ofthe notches 25, so as to allow the disengagement of the two parts ofsaid locking device as soon as the torque exerted on the circular ring 9exceeds the force applied to finger 22 by spring 23.

An embodiment of the invention has been described here by way of exampleand with reference to the accompanying drawing, but it is clear thatmultiple modifications can be foreseen without departing from the scopeof the claimed subject matter. Thus, for example, the glass-rim 2 couldcomprise no bottom 3, but could be provided with a glass like aWatch-case glass-rim; the scale 21 may then be carried by a dial securedin the case in the usual manner. Said dial may be provided with twoapertures 4 and 5 when the case contains a counter, but it may alsocomprise a watch face and the scale 21 may then comprise, for example,the numbers from 1 to 12, so as to enable the user to mark the ordernumber of the month, or the numbers from 1 to 31 to enable the user ofthe watch to mark the day of the month.

In another modification, the scale 21 could be engraved on a taperedsurface of the glass-rim. When said scale is provided with twenty marks,as shown in the drawing, the counter allows to count up to 1999, whichpermits one to perform, for example, the counting of vehicles, etc.

I claim:

1. In a casing, of the circular watchcase type, comprising a case, aglass rim mounted on said case, and a ring angularly displaceable withrespect to said glass rim, in which said ring is held in axial positionwith respect to said glass rim by means of a coupling device comprisinga circular groove provided partly in said glass rim and partly in saidring, an annular split ring located in said circular groove andpresenting at each extremity a finger bent at with respect to said splitring, a bolt hinged on the rear face of said glass rim, and two splitsmade in said bolt to engage said two fingers, whereby the diameter ofsaid annular split ring is positively fixed when said fingers areengaged with said bolt.

2. In a casing, of the circular watchcase type, comprising a case, aglass rim mounted on said case, a ring angularly displaceable withrespect to said glass rim, and a coupling device holding said ring inaxial position with respect to said glass rim, in which said couplingdevice comprises an annular groove provided partly in said glass rim andpartly in said ring, and an elastic annular split ring housed in saidannular groove and in which further, on the one hand, locking means areprovided for acting on both ends of said annular split ring to fixpositively the diameter of said annular split ring at such a diameterthat this annular split ring is located partly in said glass rim andpartly in said ring, and, on the other hand, gripping members areprovided on said annular split ring in order to allow the bringingtogether of the ends of said annular split ring against its ownelasticity, whereby said ring is then free to be displaced axially withrespect to said glass rim.

3. A casing as claimed in claim 2, comprising further a step-hy-steplocking device constituted by regularly spaced-apart notches made in therear face of said ring, a scale on said glass rim comprising indicia, aspringloaded finger engaging said notches to fix preselected angularpositions of said ring with respect to said glass rim, saidspring-loaded finger and said spaced-apart notches being so disposedthat said spring-loaded finger easily 4 moves from one spaced-apartnotch to another upon me.- nipulation of said ring for securing saidring firmly in each position whereby a mark carried by said ring is madeto coincide with the indicia of said scale on said glass rim.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS315,322 Nelson Apr. 7, 1885 1,160,110 Mays Nov. 9, 1915 FOREIGN PATENTS28,101 Switzerland Apr. 20, 1903 188,931 Switzerland Mar. 1, 1937218,929 Switzerland Apr. 16, 1942 254,582 Switzerland 'Dec. 16, 1948281,492 Switzerland June 16, 1952 308,601 Switzerland Oct. 1, 1955325,171 Switzerland Dec. 14, 1957

